The Intersection of Marketing + Technology

Mark Goren (PlantingSeeds.ca) must have been reading my mind this morning. I've had the following blog post sitting in the queue for a while, but he made me think about it with his message:

What is the future of virtual worlds? When is the last time you opened Second Life? Do you even have it installed anymore?

It is completely out of the digital marketing conversation at this point and not without reason. Massive hype lead to major investments and disappointing results. Social media has picked up the hype-baton and left virtual worlds in the dust.

Personally, virtual environments are only a small, occasional blip on my radar screen. I do keep tabs on new innovations, but it would take a very targeted client with just the right demographic to get any benefit from participating.

I almost smacked somebody the other day for even mentioning Second Life. This was the big digital marketing idea a couple of years ago for many agencies. It has since been replaced by the Facebook page, followed closely by the YouTube channel and the Twitter profile. Admit it, you know I'm right. Strategy is boss now and we can do better than this.

That said, I think there is a ray of hope. Primarily I think that group events have the most potential to succeed. From conferences to trade shows to presentations, virtual environments have a level of engagement that you can't get on the conference call. With the economy going the way it is, this may be a more attractive option to some companies to get in front of their clients in a rich environment and without the up-front investment in time that cost SecondLife so many users.

Comments

Mark Goren (PlantingSeeds.ca) must have been reading my mind this morning. I've had the following blog post sitting in the queue for a while, but he made me think about it with his message:

What is the future of virtual worlds? When is the last time you opened Second Life? Do you even have it installed anymore?

It is completely out of the digital marketing conversation at this point and not without reason. Massive hype lead to major investments and disappointing results. Social media has picked up the hype-baton and left virtual worlds in the dust.

Personally, virtual environments are only a small, occasional blip on my radar screen. I do keep tabs on new innovations, but it would take a very targeted client with just the right demographic to get any benefit from participating.

I almost smacked somebody the other day for even mentioning Second Life. This was the big digital marketing idea a couple of years ago for many agencies. It has since been replaced by the Facebook page, followed closely by the YouTube channel and the Twitter profile. Admit it, you know I'm right. Strategy is boss now and we can do better than this.

That said, I think there is a ray of hope. Primarily I think that group events have the most potential to succeed. From conferences to trade shows to presentations, virtual environments have a level of engagement that you can't get on the conference call. With the economy going the way it is, this may be a more attractive option to some companies to get in front of their clients in a rich environment and without the up-front investment in time that cost SecondLife so many users.